During the long periods usually devoted to the sport of fishing, avid fishermen often desire and need a break from holding the fishing rod, and fishing rod holders are offered for this purpose. Very often a strike while the rod is in a holder results in loss of the fish because the fisherman is not available to move the rod and set the hook. A number of hooksetting rod holders have been designed for this purpose. Typically they are quite complex and require a large number of parts. In addition, a number of them require that the fishing line be fed through, wrapped around or otherwise engaged with a trigger mechanism which trips when a fish strikes and exerts a slight tug outwardly and downwardly on the line. The mechanism when tripped responds by swinging the rod abruptly upward to set the hook.